Madison, WI--(Channel 3000.com) Madison police said a distracted driver caused a crash on the Beltline Saturday that killed a cow that had been at the World Dairy Expo in Madison.
Police said a 26-year-old woman was driving eastbound on the Beltline at about 9:45 p.m. when her attention was diverted to an incoming text message and she swerved to the left, striking a cattle trailer full of cattle owned by Woodmohr Jerseys of Bloomer, Wisconsin, that was also going eastbound.
The collision caused the trailer to begin swaying and the driver of pickup pulling it was unable to maintain control, police said. The truck and trailer went into the ditch, and the trailer overturned.
One cow died as a result of the crash, and the others were safely led out of the trailer by other World Dairy Expo motorists who stopped to help, police said.
Police said neither driver was injured nor were there any other crashes as a result of the large crash scene.
Additional trailers were summoned to remove the surviving cattle.
Police said the 26-year-old driver was cited for inattentive driving
**More details on this accident have been provided by eye witnesses. This is what Mandy Nunes sent in an email this afternoon:
Wanted to let you know that Katrina was behind the trailer that had the accident. She was riding home with a neighbor girl that had been working for Jon and Wendy Schmidt (Woodmohr) at Expo. They were following Jim Brown from Hastings, MN who had 5 of Woodmohr’s cows and his own red Holstein heifer. The woman that hit the trailer swerved across 2-3 lanes of traffic and sideswiped it, the trailer jackknifed and tipped over. Thankfully a man from Ohio stopped and helped cut the halters to free the cows. Katrina and Dakota and others who had stopped all held onto the cows’ chains. Jon and Wendy (who were still at Expo) brought their trailer and loaded them up to bring home. (Jon went back today for the remaining cattle.) So far, the cows seem to be okay. Jim Brown’s red Holstein yearling was the animal that died. The girls said that police told them the woman had been drinking. We were surprised to see the report of texting this morning. The police told Schmidts to have a vet check the animals today and sent them the receipts. Luckily, no people were hurt. SO SCARY!